Thanksgiving

Milena and her kids decided to come north for the holiday.  The night before Thanksgiving, we were planning to go to watch the balloons be inflated.  They apparently stop at 8 pm and then close off all the roads, and we got there at 9:00, so we couldn't walk by.  But we could see some of the balloons from across the street.

The next morning, we got up early and walked over to Central Park West.  We were able to see the inflated balloons still tied down and getting ready for the parade.  

Here they are starting to get them ready to join the parade.

We found a spot right at the beginning of the parade and heard the announcer say "Join the Parade!" for each float, band and balloon.  

Before the parade started, here are some participants getting their picture taken by the press.

I don't know what any of these characters are named :)

Viking clowns

Sesame Street float

Trolls

 Paw Patrol 

Mt. Rushmore (or Count Rushmore, if you are Joey Tribiani) on the South Dakota float with Smokey Robinson 

98 degrees.  Milena yelled out "HI NICK!" 

Jimmy Fallon was taking pictures of us with his phone

I invited LT to come with us to the parade, but then she scored some tickets to watch from the bleachers. She took this great picture and sent it to me.